Birthday pictures

Let me just say that Max's first birthday party was a success.  Carl and I wanted to make his party an opportunity for all sides of our family to come together and get to know one another a little bit better.  Since Carl and I both have huge families(Carl more so than myself.  His mom and dad both have 5 brothers and sisters), having a little family get-together is next to impossible.  We wanted to have something low-key and  fun without overwhelming ourselves with all the planning and such. After whittling down the guest list, we ended up with about 30 people. 

Since Max doesn't really have any preferences right now, I chose a "Watch Me Grow" and dots as the theme for his party. With the help of my friend Tori and her amazing Cricut, I was able to make some awesome decorations.  We did one wall of pictures from Max's birth until Max's actual first birthday so we could...wait for it...watch Max grow.

It's not the best picture ever, but you get the idea.  It was actually pretty neat to have all those  pictures up and see how much Max really has changed over this past year.  It brought a tear to my eyes!

We had tomato soup, P'sghetti's sandwiches(my favorite), chips, and my favorite salad for dinner.  I also made chocolate cupcakes and an orange cake for dessert.  I know, orange cake sounds strange but it was absolutely delish!  Max doesn't like chocolate cake and loves oranges so I found a recipe for an orange cake.  I decorated the cupcakes and cake myself.  Some of the cupcakes didn't look so cute but I was pretty happy with the way the cake turned out.

You might not be able to see but the cupcakes have little signs that say "Happy Birthday" atop them, thanks to Tori's Cricut.

We sung Max "Happy Birthday" but he really didn't seem into it.

We then opened presents, which he liked for about 5 minutes and then he was over that too. Fortunately we served cake and ice cream right after that and Max loved that. He went from person to person begging for bites of cake, which everyone gave him. I think that might have been his favorite part of the whole party.

I do think he slipped into a cake coma after a while though.

It was a really pleasent party and I think we achieved our goa:  To celebrate Max and to create more unity in our family.